article from www.gamespaper.com

E3 2003: Nintendo announcements

Nintendo held their pre-E3 press briefing in Los Angeles last night, in one of the more entertaining pre-show announcements that we've seen so far this year - possibly due to the presence of the ever smiley Shigeru Miyamoto.

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo admitted openly that Nintendo had lost ground in the games market, to newer players in the industry, and that they simply hadn't sold as many Gamecubes as they had hoped.

To counter this, Nintendo announced plans to claw back lost ground, a number of initiatives including more first party Gamecube exclusive titles, expanded partnerships with independent publishers, and new forms of connected play linking Gamecube and GBA would be seen during the next 12 months.

Clearly the major emphasis behind Nintendo's announcement was that of the connectivity which they can offer gamers with the Gamecube and Game Boy Advance - something which they have talked about previously, and will see many more games developed to make use of the link-up possibilities, including

Pac-Man, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Nintendo Puzzle Collection. Nintendo also announced two new Zelda titles - The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and The Legend of Zelda: Tetra's Trackers - which will make full use of the Gamecube to Game Boy Advance link feature.

Connectivity options were further demonstrated by creator of The Sims series, Will Wright, who talked about new versions of the game for Gamecube and Game Boy Advance, which can either be played in their own right, or connected together to allow new levels and features to be unlocked. You will also be able to swap Sims between the Gamecube and GBA, and even take your Sims to other Gamecubes by using the GBA as the transfer method.

Nintendo also confirmed that gamers will be able to play F-Zero both on the Gamecube and in the Arcades, thanks to a new transfer method which will see the Gamecube memory card allowing players to save and transfer craft, pilots, custom parts and various other features from Sega's arcade cabinet to their Gamecube consoles.

Third party titles were also revealed, including Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike from LucasArts, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes from Konami, and a brief video of Resident Evil 4. The newly announced n-Space developed Giest was also revealed before the eyes of the baying press, showing off aspects of the first person adventure title.

Various other Gamecube and Game Boy Advance games made an appearance in the all-too-brief video which followed, with highlights including F-Zero, Kirby Air Ride, Mario Kart, Mario Golf, Donkey Kong Country, Mario and Luigi, and Fire Emblem to name just a few.

More than 320 Gamecube titles, and 120 new Game Boy Advance titles are expected to be available by the end of the year, bolstering Nintendo's product catalogue to an impressive level - further details and screens will be made available throughout E3 this week, and we'll bring you the pick of the best along with all the important announcements, as they happen.

Gamers made aware of memory importance

The amount of memory in your computer could be crucial to enjoyment of the latest games titles, which can benefit from new high-performance Ballistix RAM.

It's suggested that most PC owners could at least double their computers memory, in many cases giving even old PC's a new lease of life or new powerful PC's their true full potential. Find out here how much and which RAM your computer needs.

Speed boost for British gamers

Internet service providers across the UK have been increasing connection speeds rapidly over the past few months, with new higher speed 8Mbps products from BT Total Broadband and other major ADSL providers.

The new faster speeds are already being offered in some parts of the country, where operator UK Online are providing a Home 22Mbps service over selected BT telephone lines in major urban areas.

Meanwhile gamers living in Telewest and NTL cabled areas can now receive up to 10Mbps download speeds on the top consumer package.